Motivation for Fracture Mechanics

• Very hard (if not impossible) to build a structure that is defect free (completely
without cracks).
• Cracks already in material (inclusions or voids).
• Cracks caused by shrinkage in castings and welding.
• Cracks caused by machining.
• Cracks caused by cyclic loading (fatigue).
• Cracks caused by corrosion.
• Are we all doomed to mega disasters???
• KEY – DAMAGE TOLERANT DESIGN – THE MATERIAL MUST HAVE
SUFFICIENT FRACTURE TOUGHNESS SO A NOTICEABLE CRACK
CAN BE DETECTED BEFORE FAILURE. THIS IS THE BASES OF
DAMAGE TOLERANT DESIGN.
What is Fracture Toughness??
• Toughness is the resistance of a material to the propagation of crack.
• Assumes that a sample of material contains a small sharp crack (i.e.
so small it doesn’t really reduce the cross sectional area, s = P/A).
• FRACTURE TOUGHNESS, K1c, is the key material property!!
• Fracture toughness, K1c, is measured in the lab using compact fracture
specimens.
The Mechanics of Fracture

  c 
s local  s 1  Y 

 2r 
Far from the crack where r >>
c, the local stress falls to the
value of σ.
Near the crack r << c, the
local stress rises sharply as:

s c
s local  Y
Lines of force in a cracked body under load; the local stress is proportional to

2r
the number of lines per unit length, increasing steeply as the crack tip is approached.
The Mechanics of Fracture
s c
s local  Y
2r

So, for a given value of r, the local stress scales as s c

Which therefore is a measure of the intensity of the local stress.
This quantity is called the mode 1 stress intensity factor (the ‘mode 1’
means tensile fracture and is given the symbol K1.

K1  Ys c
The Mechanics of Fracture

K1  Ys c = mode 1 stress
intensity factor

Constant
Average stress (i.e.
depending on Crack size
away from crack)
geometry/loading

Failure when K1 = K1c where K1c is a material

property called fracture toughness.
Modes of deformation of a cracked body (modes of fracture)
How many ways are there to load a cracked body?
 Three ideal cases of loading of a cracked body can be considered, which are called the
modes of deformation:
 Mode I: Opening mode
 Mode II: Sliding mode
 Mode III: Tearing mode
 In the general case (for a crack in an arbitrarily shaped body, under an arbitrary loading), the
mode is not pure (i.e. is mixed mode). The essential aspects of fracture can be understood by considering mode I.

Mode I

Modes of Deformation /
fracture of a cracked body
Mode II

Mode III
The Shape factor (Y)

 It is obvious that the geometry of the crack and its relation to the body will play an
important role on its effect on fracture.
 The factor Y depends on the geometry of the specimen with the crack.
 Y=1 for the body considered double ended crack in a infinite body.
 Y=1.12 for a surface crack. The value of Y is larger (by 12%) for a surface crack as
additional strain energy is released (in the region marked dark grey shade in the figure
below), due to the presence of the free surface.
 Y=2/ for a embedded penny shaped crack.
 Y=0.713 for a surface half-penny crack.
What happens to a material with a small crack?

Yields then work Get high stress around

hardens, absorb crack, crack propogates
What happens and get sudden failure.
energy and
when you nick a Stress around crack is
redistribute stress.
brittle material?? In other words, high due to Kt , but
crack makes no nominal stress is much
significant lower than material yield
difference! strength!
Again, Failure when:

K1  Ys c  K1c

K1c Failure stress at which fracture will occur.

sf  For small cracks, failure will be yield not
c fracture – check both!!!!

K12c
ccrit 
Transition fro failure due to fracture vs
s y2 failure due to yield will occur at ccrit.
Cracks < ccrit will yield
Cracks > ccrit will fracture

Think!
 K12c
ccrit 
s y2

Failure by yield Failure by

fracture
 Fracture Toughness
Graphite/ K1c – plane strain stress
Metals/ Composites/
Alloys
Ceramics/ Polymers
fibers concentration factor – with
Semicond edge crack; A Material
100
C-C(|| fibers) 1 Property we use for design,
70 Steels
60 Ti alloys
developed using ASTM Std:
50 ASTM E399 - 09 Standard
40
Al alloys Test Method for Linear-
30 Mg alloys Elastic Plane-Strain Fracture
K Ic (MPa · m 0.5 )

20 Toughness K Ic of Metallic
Al/Al oxide(sf) 2
Y2 O 3 /ZrO 2 (p) 4
Materials
10 C/C( fibers) 1 Composite reinforcement geometry is: f =
Al oxid/SiC(w) 3 fibers; sf = short fibers; w = whiskers; p =
Diamond Si nitr/SiC(w) 5
7 Al oxid/ZrO 2 (p) 4 particles. Addition data as noted (vol. fraction of
6 Si carbide Glass/SiC(w) 6 reinforcement):
5 Al oxide PET 1. (55vol%) ASM Handbook, Vol. 21, ASM Int., Materials
4 Si nitride Park, OH (2001) p. 606.
PP 2. (55 vol%) Courtesy J. Cornie, MMC, Inc., Waltham,
3 PVC MA.
3. (30 vol%) P.F. Becher et al., Fracture Mechanics of
Ceramics, Vol. 7, Plenum Press (1986). pp. 61-73.
2 PC 4. Courtesy CoorsTek, Golden, CO.
5. (30 vol%) S.T. Buljan et al., "Development of Ceramic
Matrix Composites for Application in Technology for
Advanced Engines Program", ORNL/Sub/85-22011/2,
1 <100> ORNL, 1992.
Si crystal PS Glass 6 6. (20vol%) F.D. Gace et al., Ceram. Eng. Sci. Proc., Vol.
<111>
0.7 Glass -soda 7 (1986) pp. 978-82.
0.6 Polyester
Concrete
0.5
 Problem
• Steel subject to tensile stress
of 1030 MPa, it has K1c of 54.8 K a  Ys a  a
MPa(m) – a handbook value
here
• If it has a ‘largest surface Y 1
crack’ .5 mm (.0005 m) long
will it grow and fracture? Y s a  a  1*1030* 3.141*.0005  40.82
Since K a < K1c the part won't fail!

• What crack size will result in K1c  Y s c  a

failure? 2
 K1c 
 
2
 Y s c 
54.8
a   1*1030
 3.1416
a  .0009m  .9mm
Application of the Fracture Mechanics
Approach
The material is Al alloy 2024, which has a yield stress of 200
MPa. The value of the fracture toughness is . We assume
that the Y parameter is 1.12, corresponding to an edge crack. We
assume that a safety factor of one half is built in to the design; the
nominal stress must then not exceed one half of , i.e. 100
MPa. What is the size of the critical flaw, ?
From the data given we have

We therefore conclude that a crack will propagate in an unstable

fashion if the length exceeds 0.37 m. This is a reassuringly large
magnitude. We conclude that the structure can tolerate small
defects such as incipient cracks at rivet holes. Inspection of the
wing is expected to allow cracks to be detected before they reach
the critical size.
For civil airliners, the material is employed is commonly a high
strength steel. The yield stress is 1200 MPa,
MPa, i.e. a safety factor of 0.6 is employed. The fracture
toughness is . Take Y=0.95 corresponding to a semi-
elliptic crack.
Therefore

We therefore conclude that a crack of length greater than 2.4

mm will cause catastrophic brittle failure. As a consequence, we
need to inspect after every heavy landing and non-destructive
testing methods need to be used frequently, typically every week.
It is essential to detect cracks of length 1 mm.
Imagine that this is fabricated from pressure vessel steel, which has
. The yield stress is 300 MPa and a safety factor of
0.66 is taken. We take Y=1 and hence

The failure of pressure vessels can be so catastrophic that special

precautions are always undertaken. One concerns the need for the
vessel to leak before breaking. Consider the above example in
which acrit=115 mm. If the wall thickness is t = 250mm then acrit<t,
i.e. if the crack remains undetected and grows by fatigue,
explosion of the vessel by catastrophic brittle fracture will occur.
Alternatively, by appropriate choice of steel toughness, stress and thickness, we
can redesign.
Now if an undetected crack undergoes slow growth, it must penetrate the wall
thickness before it can achieve a size sufficient for unstable fracture. But
penetration of the wall will cause leakage which leads to a loss of pressure
which in turn reduces the stress and lowers the driving force for failure, i.e. the
vessel leaks before it breaks.
 A steel ship deck is 30 mm thick, 12 m wide and 20 m long and has
a fracture toughness of KC = 28.3 MPa.m 1/2 . If a 65 mm long central
transverse crack is discovered, calculate the nominal tensile stress
that will cause catastrophic failure. Compare the stress found to the
yield strength of sy  240MPa .
K I  Ys a
b=12m 2a=65mm
Since the plate dimension is large when compared
to crack size a, the plate can be considered as infinite
Hence Y=1.
K I  K C  1.0s 32.5X103  28.3 l=20m

28.3
s  88.6 MPa
3
32.5X10
Uniaxial stress at which yielding begins is s y  240MPa
sy 240
Factor of safety (FS) =   2.71
s 88.6
Note : Fracture occurs before yielding
A plate of width 1.4 m and length 2.8 m is required to support
a tensile load of 4 MN (in the long direction). Inspection
procedures are capable of detecting through-thickness edge
cracks larger than 2.7 mm. The two titanium alloys are being
considered for this application. (Alloy (A) KIC = 115 MPa.m1/2
and sy=910 MPa; alloy (B) KIC = 55 MPa.m1/2 and sy=1035
MPa. For a factor of safety of 1.3 against yielding and
fracture, which one of the two alloys will give the lightest
weight solution?
Design based on yield a=2.7mm

sy sy P=sbt


b=1.4m
FS=
s (P / bt) t

FS  P
t
bs y
l=2.8m
For alloy (A)
FS  P 1.3X4X106
t   4.08mm ;
bs y 1400X910
sy 910
s   700MPa
FS 1.3
For alloy (B)
FS  P 1.3X4X106
t   3.59mm ;
bs y 1400X1035
sy 1035
s   796MPa
FS 1.3
Design based on Fracture
K I  Ys a
 a   a   
3

1/ 2  0.752  2.02    0.37  1  sin   

 2b  a    b   2b   
Y    tan   
 a  2b     a  
 cos   
  2b  
Y  1.1225
K I  1.1225  s    2.7X103  0.103386s
KC KC
FS  
K I 0.103386s
KC
s
0.103386FS
For alloy (A)(weak)
KC 115
s   855.65MPa
0.103386FS 0.103386X1.3
6
P 4X10
t   3.34mm
bs 1400X855.65
For alloy (B)
KC 55
s   409.22MPa
0.103386FS 0.103386X1.3
6
P 4X10
t   6.98mm
bs 1400X409.22
Summary
For alloy (A)
Yielding : t=4.08mm; s  700MPa
Fracture : t=3.34mm; s  855.65MPa
For alloy (B)(strong)
Yielding : t=3.59mm; s  796MPa
Fracture : t=6.98mm; s  409.22MPa
Best design solution: use alloy A with t=4.09 mm
Fatigue

Fatigue is the lowering of strength or the failure of a

material due to repetitive stress, which may be above or
below the yield strength.

Many engineering materials such as those used in cars,

planes, turbine engines, machinery etc are subjected
constantly to repetitive stresses in the form of tension,
compression, bending, vibration, thermal expansion and
contraction or other stresses.
Fatigue behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhUclxBUV_E

• Fatigue = failure under cyclic stress

specimen compression on top (Fig. 8.18 is from
Materials Science in
motor Engineering, 4/E by Carl.
bearing bearing counter
A. Keyser, Pearson
Education, Inc., Upper
flex coupling Saddle River, NJ.)
tension on bottom

• Stress varies with time. s

smax
-- key parameters are S (stress
S
amplitude), sm, and frequency sm
smin time

• Key points when designing in Fatigue inducing situations:

-- fatigue can cause part failure, even though smax < sc.
-- fatigue causes ~ 90% of mechanical engineering failures.
• Because of its importance, ASTM and ISO have developed many
special standards to assess Fatigue Strength of materials
Fatigue

There are typically three stages to fatigue failure.

First, a small crack is initiated or nucleates at the surface
and can include scratches, pits, sharp corners due to
poor design or manufacture, inclusions, grain
boundaries or dislocation concentrations.
Second, the crack gradually propagates as the load
continues to cycle.
Third, a sudden fracture of the material occurs when the
remaining cross-section of the material is too small to
support the applied load.
Fatigue
Fatigue failures are often easy to identify.
The fracture surface near the origin is usually smooth. The surface becomes
rougher as the crack increases in size.
Microscopic and macroscopic examination reveal a beach mark pattern and
striations.
Beach mark patterns indicate that the load is changed during service or the
load is intermittent.
Striations are on a much finer scale and show the position of the crack tip after
each cycle.
Fatigue

The most important fatigue data for engineering designs are the S-N curves (wöhler
diagrams), which is the Stress-Number of Cycles curves.

In a fatigue test, a specimen is subjected to a cyclic stress of a certain form and

amplitude and the number of cycles to failure is determined.

The number of cycles, N, to failure is a function of the stress amplitude, S.

A plot of S versus N is called the S-N curve.
The S-N curves for a tool steel and an aluminum alloy showing the number of cycles to
failure
Fatigue
Fatigue Limit:
• For some materials such as BCC steels and Ti alloys, the S-N
curves become horizontal when the stress amplitude is
decreased to a certain level.
• This stress level is called the Fatigue Limit, or Endurance Limit,
which is typically ~35-60% of the tensile strength for steels.
• In some materials, including steels, the endurance limit is
approximately half (50%) the tensile strength given by:

endurance limit
Endurance ratio   0.5
tensile strength
Fatigue

Fatigue Strength:
For materials, which do not show a fatigue limit, i.e.,
the S-N curves do not become horizontal such as Al,
Cu, and Mg (non-ferrous alloys), and some steels with
a FCC structure,
• fatigue strength is specified as the stress level at
which failure will occur for a specified number of
cycles, where 107 cycles is often used.
 Fatigue Design Parameters
• Fatigue limit, Sfat: S = stress amplitude
case for
--no fatigue failure if unsafe steel (typ.)
S < Sfat
Sfat
Fatigue Limit is defined in: safe
Adapted from Fig.
ASTM D671 8.19(a), Callister 7e.

10 3 10 5 10 7 10 9
N = Cycles to failure
• However, Sometimes, the
fatigue limit is zero! S = stress amplitude
case for
unsafe Al (typ.)

safe Adapted from Fig.

8.19(b), Callister 7e.

10 3 10 5 10 7 10 9
N = Cycles to failure
Fatigue Failures
Types of stresses for fatigue tests include,
axial (tension – compression)
flexural (bending)
torsional (twisting)
From these tests the following data is generated.

s max  s min
M ean Stress, s m 
2
s max  s min
Stress Amplitude, s a 
2
Stress Range, s r  s max  s min
s min
Stress Ratio, R 
s max
By convention, tensile stresses are positive and compression stresses are negative.
Let’s look at an Example
Given: 2014-T6 Alum. Alloy bar (6.4 mm )
find its fatigue life if a part is subject to loads:
5340 N - tensile then compressive
s max  5340 2 
5340 5  165.99 MPa

 3
 6.4*10 2  3.22  10

s min  5340 2 
5340  165.99MPa
 
6.4*10 3

2  3.22 105

s max  s min 165.99   165.99  MPa

sm   0
2 2
s r  s Max  s min  331.99MPa

s a  S  s r 2  165.99MPa
Examining Fig (right) at S = 165.99
Fatigue Life = Cycles to Failure  7 106
 Fatigue Failures

Examples of stress cycles

where a) shows the a

stress in compression
and tension, b) shows
there’s greater tensile b
stress than compressive
stress and in c) all of the
stress is tensile.
c
Fatigue Failures- (Paris – Erdogan Law)
Crack Growth Rate
To estimate whether a crack will grow, the stress intensity factor
(DK), which characterizes the crack geometry and the stress
amplitude can be used.
Below a threshold DK a crack doesn’t grow.
For somewhat higher stress intensities, the cracks grow slowly.
For still higher stress-intensities a crack grows at a rate given by:

 C DK 
da n

dN

Where C and n are empirical constants that depend on

the material.
When DK is high, the cracks grow in a rapid and unstable
manner until fracture occurs.
Fatigue Mechanism
• Cracks in Material grows incrementally
typ. 1 to 6
da
 DK 
m

dN
~ Ds a
increase in crack length per loading cycle
crack origin
• Failed rotating shaft
--crack grew even though
Kmax < Kc
--crack grows faster as
• Ds increases Adapted from
from D.J. Wulpi,
• crack gets longer Understanding How
• loading freq. increases. Components Fail,
American Society for
Metals, Materials Park,
OH, 1985.
Fatigue Failures- (Paris – Erdogan Law)

On a log-log plot, the two Paris law model parameters, C and m, can be
determined graphically as the y-axis intersect at x=1 and the slope,
respectively. The values of the model shown here, i.e., C=10-12 and
m=2.85, are typical for, e.g., aluminum.
 Fatigue Failures
From the steady state crack growth relationship of

 C DK 
da n

dN
if we integrate between the initial size of a crack and the crack
size required for fracture to occur, we find that the number of
cycles to failure is given by

N

2 (ac ) ( 2n ) / 2  (ai ) ( 2n ) / 2 
(2  n)Cf n Ds n n / 2

where C and n are empirical constants that depend on the material.

Figure 8.12 Illustration of crack growth with number of stress cycles, N, at two
different stress levels. Note that, at a given stress level, the crack growth rate,
da/dN, increases with increasing crack length, and, for a given crack length such as
a1, the rate of crack growth is significantly increased with increasing magnitude of
stress.
For metals other than Ferrous alloys, F.S. is
taken as the stress that will cause failure
after 108 cycles
Figure 8.21 Fatigue behavior for an acetal polymer at various
temperatures.

(From Design Handbook for Du

Pont Engineering Plastics, used
by permission.)

For polymers, we
consider fatigue
life to be (only)
106 cycles to
failure thus fatigue
strength is the
stress that will
lead to failure
after 106 cycles
Improving Fatigue Life
1. Impose a compressive S = stress amplitude
Adapted from
surface stresses Fig. 8.24, Callister 7e.

(to suppress surface Increasing

near zero or compressive sm
crack growth) sm moderate tensile sm
Larger tensile sm

N = Cycles to failure

--Method 1: shot peening --Method 2: carburizing

shot
C-rich gas
put
surface
into
compression

2. Remove stress bad better

concentrators. Adapted from
Fig. 8.25, Callister 7e.
bad better
Figure 8.17 Fatigue strength is increased by prior mechanical deformation
or reduction of structural discontinuities.
Other Issues in Failure – Stress Corrosion Cracking
• Water can greatly accelerate crack
growth and shorten life
performance – in metals, ceramics
and glasses

• Other chemicals – that can generate

(or provide H+ or O2-) ions – also
effectively reduce fatigue life as
these ions react with the metal or
oxide in the material
Figure 8.18 The drop in strength of glasses with duration of load (and without
cyclic-load applications) is termed static fatigue.

(From W. D. Kingery, Introduction to

Ceramics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
New York, 1960.)
Figure 8.19 The role of H2O in static fatigue depends on its reaction with the
silicate network. One H2O molecule and one –Si– O–Si– segment generate two
Si–OH units, which is equivalent to a break in the network.
Figure 8.20 Comparison of (a) cyclic fatigue in metals and (b) static
fatigue in ceramics.
SUMMARY
• Engineering materials don't reach theoretical strength.
• Flaws produce stress concentrations that cause
premature failure.
• Sharp corners produce large stress concentrations
and premature failure.
• Failure type depends on T and stress:
- for noncyclic s and T < 0.4Tm, failure stress decreases with:
- increased maximum flaw size,
- decreased T,
- increased rate of loading.
- for cyclic s:
- cycles to fail decreases as Ds increases.
- for higher T (T > 0.4Tm):
- time to fail decreases as s or T increases.
Homework